An Additive Manufacturing Apparatus (AMA), often referred to as Three-Dimensional (3D) printer, is a machine that produces tangible products from a digital representation, such as retained in a data file. Such an operation is also referred to as AMA production. 3D printers can produce objects that may be used for any purpose, from prototyping trough full-scale production including tooling and post-production customization. A 3D printer may utilize an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down on top of each other to produce the product. In some cases, the 3D printer may utilize a variety of different materials to produce the product. Each layer is “printed” by adding material in desired locations. The smallest, most basic, element produced by the 3D printer is referred to as a “voxel”, and it represents a volumetric pixel in the product. Additive process may be distinguished from other manufacturing processes such as for example traditional subtractive machining such as filing, milling, drilling, welding, grinding, and the like.
Recently 3D printers are becoming more affordable and therefore more available in the consumer marketplace. The practical ability of individuals, hobbyist and organizations to produce, using 3D printers, infringing copies or illegal products for personal use, nonprofit distribution, or for sale raises a major challenge for the legal system and law enforcement agencies.
Early in 2013 a disclosed plan of a working plastic gun was found on the Internet and could be reproduced by anybody with a 3D printer. It was a version of a 3D printable AR-15 type rifle capable of lasting more than 650 rounds. After that incidence, questions were raised regarding the effects that 3D printing may have on gun control effectiveness. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center released a memo stating that “significant advances in 3D printing capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns,” and that “proposed legislation to ban 3D printing of weapons may deter, but cannot completely prevent their production. Even if the practice is prohibited by new legislation, online distribution of these digital files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded music, movie or software files.”